Meteor Shower
by Brooke-P-Davis
Summary: A failed marriage led her to him, but he was already with somebody else, her friend Jess. Sprinkle in a little Brooke Davis, add a weird older guy who lurks outside campus in a Chevy Impala, and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster. Saley, Brean.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note –**

I'll update once or twice a week, the updates should remain steady as I'm two chapters ahead and I've got a fully fleshed out plan that hopefully I won't stray away from too much. It's currently planned to be thirteen chapters although it may be a couple less or a couple more depending how much I fit into each chapter. Also, without spoiling anything this isn't going to a Peyton/Lucas/Brooke love triangle because neither Sam nor Haley would do that. I've characterised Jess myself because unfortunately we don't really know much about her through Supernatural Verse.

Any feedback you'd like to contribute be it good or bad, **please review and let me know!**

Enjoy.

**Summary - **

_A failed marriage and a broken heart led her to him – but he was already with someone else, her friend Jess. While avoiding her feelings for him and dealing with the loss of her first love she discovers her love for Stanford and immerses herself into the life she's dreamed of since she was eight years old._

_But when Jess goes away for a weekend, she connects with Sam emotionally in a way she's never connected to with anyone, not even Nathan, and suddenly she's treading in forbidden waters and avoiding feelings she knows she shouldn't be having._

_Sprinkle in a little Brooke Davis (Who's recovering from her own break up and transfers in as a politics and fashion major) add a weird older guy (who she's certain is stalking Sam and lurks outside campus in a Chevy Impala.) Plus a whole lot of supernatural weirdness that Haley doesn't wish to understand, and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster. _

_Sam/Jess, Sam/Haley, minor Brooke/Dean, Haley Centric._

_

* * *

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**Meteor Shower**

**Chapter One – Vanilla and Honey**

"Wow Jess this is – "Haley's breathe hitches up in the back of her throat, and she runs a hand through her hair carelessly.

"Amazing? I know right. I couldn't have my favourite North Carolinian friend slumming it out in a freshmen dorm, now could I?" Jess winks and she sends a beaming smile in the direction of her friend.

Haley gives an astounded nod as she drops her duffle bag on the floor and eyes the bright and spacious apartment.

This was _much _more than she'd ever expected, she was content with the idea of a tiny box room with enough space for a single bed and a desk, but this had twobeds, a sofa, a wardrobe and a desk, and that was_ just_ the bedroom. She also had her own kitchenette and living space.

"How on earth did you – "

"I have my connections. I guess it helps that you were kind of a rock star." Jess interjects teasingly.

"What?" Haley had not been a rock-star – far from it. Sure, she'd gone on tour with 'The Wreckers' the summer before, but she _never _expected that it would influence where she'd stay when she came to college.

"I'm kidding! The dean owed me a favour for raising $8000 dollars at a fundraiser last year so she was more than happy to oblige, especially since you had a perfect GPA, was class valedictorian and had a ton of extra-curricula's. Just don't go around advertising."

Haley bit down on her bottom lip, she couldn't accept this – it was far too generous, plus there was no way in hell that she would be able to afford the rent. Although she was touched by Jess's kind gesture, she had only budgeted for a dorm room.

"Jess, I love that you did this for me but I can't accept it. I won't even be able to afford the rent."

Jess smiles wickedly, for she has another trick up her sleeve. "See I thought you'd say that."

Before continuing she momentarily pauses for effect.

"So I got my boyfriend to pull a few strings at his work, and now you're the newest waitress at the diner a couple of blocks from here. You'll have to be interviewed of course, but you'll get the job, _no _problem, and they'll give you hours that will fit in with your timetable."

Jess wraps her arm around Haley. "I know it's hard for you at the moment, the break up between you and Nathan hasn't been easy. I just wanted to make this as easy a process as possible."

Haley consciously circles her newly bare ring finger with her thumb, before shaking her head, disallowing herself any thoughts of her failed marriage. "I appreciate this, I truly do."

"Good, I'm glad. Now should we start getting you unpacked? Although..." Jess stares at Haley's bag and raises a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"Is that all you brought with you?"

Haley nods, when she'd finished dividing up her things with Nathan she'd had trouble picking what she'd bring with her to Stanford. It was a long and painful process, each object riddled with memories. So instead, she'd left everything behind – bringing only her clothes with her.

"Yeah, I guess it is." She shrugs indifferently.

Jess is momentarily speechless, obviously trying to comprehend how someone could bring so little to college with them.

Jess and Haley had known each other since they were five and had once been inseparable, until Jess had moved to Illinois when Haley was ten and Jess was twelve. The girls were heartbroken to be separated but had kept in contact through letters, phone and email ever since.

With her bubbly and bright nature, Jess reminded Haley of her best friend from Tree Hill named Brooke, and she felt a pang in her chest as she wondered what Brooke was doing at that moment, three thousand miles away. She had been the maid of honour at her and Nathan's wedding and she'd believed in their love, when others had doubted it.

Although now, Haley had succeeded in proving everyone else right – they may have been too young and too foolish, but she _had _loved Nathan. Did she still love him? That was still to be decided, not that it mattered now anyway, with Nathan playing basketball at Duke University and her studying at Stanford.

"Anyway -" Haley began, wanting to cut short her thoughts about Nathan. "Tell me about this guy your seeing. What did you say his name was?"

Jess's blue eyes brighten as she opens her mouth to speak. "Sam."

* * *

On a deserted highway about 91 miles away from Palo Alto and just outside Modesto two men are stood squaring up to one another, faces scowling and voices raised. Another man – acting as the mediator – stands inches away from the two, his hands behind his head and an uncomfortable look upon his face.

"God damn it Sammy, you can't just turn your back on us." The older man of the three reasons loudly, his voice rough with a slight southern twang.

Sam, the man in front of him is much younger and stands at about six foot four. "Dad, I have a life now – I have Stanford and I have an actual future! There is no way in hell that I'm leaving."

"So, what, huh?" The other man suddenly pipes up, an anguished expression blazed upon his face. "That's it? We're no longer your family? We're supposed to stick together!"

Sam sighs heavily. "Dean – "

"No, Sam! What about mom?"

Sam throws his hands in the air defensively, this time squaring up to Dean, instead of his father.

"Don't you dare! We've been chasing the damn thing for the past twenty one years and we're no closer now than we were when we started!"

"Hey!" The older man interrupts gruffly.

"What, Dad? I can't do this anymore, I _can't_. Why can't you just leave it alone?" Sam turns on his feet and begins to walk away from the two. John, his dad, begins to follow him, but a heavy hand grips his arms and pulls him back.

"Let him go, we can't force this situation now anymore than we could two years ago."

And as Sam continues to walk, an inner battle going on inside his brain, nobody bothers to follows him.

* * *

Two days later it was her first lesson – English, a subject that she had enjoyed very much when she was in high school and she was rather looking forward to it. She'd spend the past weekend with Jess, catching up and watching the occasional movie. They'd even gone to San Francisco for the day and Haley had loved the new culture and city life – it was like a dream world - vibrant, pretty and buzzing. Being a small town girl, she'd never experienced a big city before, she'd briefly visited New York with Brooke and her other friend Peyton but she'd had absolutely no time to explore before they were leaving again. She also vaguely remembered going to New Orleans with her family when she was about six or seven, but the memory was hazy. So all in all this was an entirely new and enjoyable experience for Haley and she felt like she would adjust easily into the Californian way of life.

Haley was yet to meet Jess's boyfriend Sam – they'd apparently been dating about eight months and Jess was very in love with him, but was often very puzzled with his brooding ways. Haley laughed, before sympathising with her and telling her that she'd had a similarly brooding friend named Lucas, and sometimes it was best just to leave him to pout for a little while.

They'd bonded, but she wasn't Brooke or Peyton and there was the occasional moment of silence when neither knew how to fill it. Jess was also a complete social butterfly and had many friends, some of which were very welcoming of Haley and others, who weren't really interested in her as she was a freshman.

To kill some time Haley had gotten involved in several freshmen orientation activities but she couldn't seem to meet anyone she felt she could become great friends with, and she was starting to feel a little isolated.

On her first day that feeling had only heightened and soon the bright lights of San Francisco were fading and the cream and orange coloured campus seemed intimidating instead of inviting.

It had all started to spiral downhill when she'd gotten lost.

The hallways seemed intricate and winding and she convinced herself that the stairways were moving around and tricking her like they do in Hogwarts.

Finally, when she'd arrived at her first English lesson after thirty minutes of sheer panic and misdirection, she'd scurried into Professor McNally's class, a quick apology on her lips as she struggled to find an empty seat.

"And you are?" The middle aged professor asks her in an unimpressed tone.

"Haley James, I'm really sorry that I –"

"Out."

Haley blinks, her mouth becoming dry as she wonders if she'd heard her correctly. "Sorry, what did you say I didn't –"

"If you cannot be bothered to turn up on time, then I do not want you in my class. Out" The professor's voice was firm and Haley felt herself get very hot as she felt the stares of all her other class mates boring into her.

Haley begins to ramble, something she's always done when she is nervous. "Please, I got lost, I've spent the last forty five minutes trying to find the classroom, I even wanted to be fifteen minutes early, you know to show that I'm studious and ready to – ."

McNally threw her hand in the air to silence Haley while opening the classroom door. "Everyone else managed to make it on time, unlike you. So, I shall see you Thursday at eleven am, and if you're a second later you'll be forced to leave again."

McNally shooed her to just outside the door, and as Haley began to protest she slammed the door in her face while proclaiming 'Goodbye Miss James!'

Unable to control it, a sob escapes her lips as humiliation washes over her.

Why did she have to come all this way to go to college? She got accepted into Duke too which was still a very prestigious school, probably just as much as Stanford. At least then she'd have all her friends, Nathan and her old life.

Maybe she could transfer out? Was that even possible so early on in the year?

She sighs, of course she couldn't do that, her life was different now, in these short few days her whole outlook had changed and there was no going back.

This, however, doesn't reassure her and she begins to cry again as she realises the huge mess she's created.

"Hey are you okay?" She jumps; startled by the fact she hadn't noticed the man in front of her. He was very tall, much taller than Haley and a few inches taller than Nathan was. Height aside, his demeanour wasn't intimidating and he was looking at her with big and kind brown eyes.

"Yeah, I'm just being silly." She shakes her head, her honey blonde curls covering her eyes as she looks to the floor.

He notices the classroom she'd walked out of."McNally, huh? She's tough; I guess you were the person she decided to make an example of. She does it every year; don't take it too personally though." He offers reassuringly.

She nods, feeling a little bit better until she realises she's missing a whole _hours_ worth of work and she's going to have to spend the next lesson catching up.

As if he could read her mind, he tells her that she shouldn't worry as the first lesson is always about meeting and greeting – and all she'd miss are people introducing themselves and telling everyone where they're from.

She instantly likes him; it's as if he has this genuine goodness about him that makes her feel a little bit easier. Maybe she'll make some friends after all.

He asks her if she'd like to go to coffee and upon seeing her hesitant expression he explains that he isn't trying to come onto her, he just has a free period and wondered if she'd like to join him.

She wants to say yes, but something's telling her to refuse – she's only just broken up with Nathan and she's doesn't want to start seeing anyone else. Although it is _only_ coffee, and he doesn't look the type to try and take advantage of her, however looking up at his big brown eyes and floppy dark hair, she's positive she wouldn't be too bothered if he did try and make a move.

Even if she is eighteen years old and a soon to be divorcee.

She smiles at him. "Sure."

* * *

Sam doesn't know why he didn't ask her for her name, and he figures that should have been the first question out of his mouth. Instead of asking her for coffee and then having to correct himself because it seemed like he was asking her out. _Damn, _what was he doing? He had a girlfriend, one that he loved no less.

But when he'd seen her, her face crumpled up and shiny eyes glazed with tears, he felt such an intense pull towards her and he had wanted, no he had _needed _to see if she was okay.

She was pretty in a natural, girl next door kind of way and she was wearing a white shirt, blue shorts and sandals. Her hair was similar to Jess's except Jess's wasn't as curly and more of a vanilla colour, rather than the honey hue that this girl's hair was.

Maybe it was just his natural instinct to protect, or maybe it was just seeing a pretty freshman looking helpless that made him want to reach out and help her. But asking her for coffee didn't seem entirely inappropriate at the time – until her face had fallen and it'd given him a funny feeling in his stomach to think that she may not like him.

However when she'd smiled that full pearly smile and agreed, he had found himself feeling a little lighter, _happier_.

He didn't flirt with her, he had genuinely wanted to make sure she was okay; he'd known what it was like to walk the halls feeling invisible and wondering how he'd ever adjust to the strange and new life.

"It'll get better. I promise." He'd reassured her.

They'd quickly and easily begun a conversation, sharing hobbies and interests and chatting about their love for fiction. He'd never been able to talk to Jess about this kind of stuff, her eyes would glaze over and she'd give the impression that she was sleeping with her eyes open, and he didn't have any friends that truly shared his passion for knowledge, unlike her.

They seem to talk about anything and everything, the conversation remaining steady and fluid throughout the half hour that they were chatting.

He was however, very surprised that she'd blurted out some personal information about herself, they'd been on the subject of young people getting married (it'd been a hot topic in his debate class) and she'd told him that she had gotten married at sixteen.

"Really? I mean are you still married, now?" He'd asked curiously although he was rather taken aback. How could she be married? She looked _so _young, maybe she was a mature student, he'd wondered, even though she didn't look much older than eighteen.

"I guess – kind of. I mean we're not together now, he's at Duke University playing basketball – ." She shrugs her shoulders, twiddles her hair and then looks up at him. "We do silly things for love sometimes."

"Wow. I mean... but you're only – "

"Eighteen." She replies softly.

He's silent for a moment, taking in the information, unsure of what to say and it's then that she speaks.

"You must think I'm crazy, right? The crazy, crying, soon-to-be divorced freshman." She jokes, although her eyes aren't in on it and they're holding that shiny look again.

"No, I don't. You obviously didn't care what anyone else thought of you and you wanted the whole world to know exactly how you felt. I think it's brave." He tells her sincerely and for a moment their eyes lock, and without warning he looks away and blurts out that he has a girlfriend.

She winces, and then her cheeks flush red when she realises that he noticed.

"Girlfriend?"

"Yeah – I was just saying, 'cause, uhm, I dunno if I could do the marriage thing with her, not this soon in the relationship anyway. We've only been together for eight months."

Her whole body straightens and she gnaws down on her bottom lip. "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't say, we've been talking all this time without any formal introduction, weird huh? I'm Sam and you are?"

She closes her eyes and shrinks into her seat. "You're with – "

"Jess!" Sam exclaims as the familiar blonde figure approaches them.

"Oh goodie, the two of you have met!" She leans down and plants a soft kiss on Sam's mouth and guilt's sweeps over him. _Of course, _it was Jess's friend Haley, how could he have not known? She'd said Haley had gotten married young – but the Haley she'd described was a brunette and not a blonde.

He wonders if he had been leading Haley on unintentionally? He should've come clean straight away and admitted that he had a girlfriend – but, then why should he have done?

After all he wasn't making a move on her; he was merely enjoying a conversation with someone who just happened to be a girl.

"Sam was really helpful; I had a run in with one of the professors and was stood outside class on my own." Haley explained, not meeting Sam's gaze.

Jess turned to Sam, her unsuspecting face showing genuine curiosity."Oh, who?"

"McNally."

Jess grimaces. "Ouch." Her face brightens. "Well I'm so glad the two of you have met. It'd be cool if you both became friends, apparently Haley's got a broody friend at home just like you!"

"Yeah, I guess that it would be cool." He answered, but Haley wasn't looking in his direction, her gaze was instead on the palm of her hands.

* * *

_What a mess._ She'd thought. She was _so_ stupid for thinking that a guy that just happened to be nice to her would like her.

A guy that also happened to be her only friend's boyfriend.

In that moment she had wanted to repeatedly bang her head against the table in the cafe - she had felt so foolish and she prayed to God she hadn't been flirting with him.

Why was she even trying to get a guy to like her anyway? The last thing she needed was a new relationship, or as this might've panned out – a Brooke/Lucas/Peyton trifecta of death situation.

She shook her head fiercely, _Stop it Haley, _she had a bad habit of continually over analysing everything and it was getting tiresome. She didn't like Sam, she was just confused and he reminded her of Lucas, although Lucas wasn't as hot..._Stop_...She sighed.

It couldn't really get much worse than this.

-x-

-x-


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

She couldn't allow herself to have feelings for him.

But he wasn't making it easy for her at _all. _It's not like he was deliberately smart, funny and deliciously sexy. It's not like he chose to have the most gorgeous dimples she'd ever seen (she didn't even think dimples _could_ be sexy.) or that he was a completely hopeless cook, although he tried so very hard and furrowed his brows in frustration when he burnt the macaroni. She tried to be mad; she'd spent an absolute age on getting that macaroni right, but when he tilted his head and gave her an apologetic and helpless look she gave in without persuasion.

'You are a hopeless case, Sam Winchester.' She teased.

He put his hands in his pockets and shrugs. 'I suck at cooking.'

She nods and smiles. 'Mmhm, you do!'

For a moment she nearly said, _that's what I'm here for,_ but she doesn't allow herself to do that. Jess may be away for the weekend but her presence still hung heavily in the air.

In another life, one where she wouldn't be about to be divorced and he wouldn't be with Jess, maybe they'd be perfect for one another. She'd teach him to cook and give him kisses right on her tippy toes (he was just over a foot taller than her.) and everything would be sweet, easy and lovely.  
_  
Maybe._

And just as she was beginning to shake off the feelings she had for him, after all he was a _lot _like Lucas and she never had feelings for him. A clap of thunder was heard and the lights went out.

And she realised how everything tended to look _very_ different in the dark.

* * *

Forty Eight Hours earlier

'Haley you need to go to this party, I know you've had trouble fitting in and this is the perfect opportunity.' Jess reasons while she looks in the bathroom mirror and applies heavy mascara to her lashes.

Haley shrugs while slumping against the white basin. 'I can't Jess, you're at your parents for the weekend and I'll look like a complete dork if I go on my own.'

It had been a whole month since Haley had joined the university and she had not even begun to feel at home. All the other students seemed to fit into the student lifestyle really well, lapping up the end of summer sunshine, drinking themselves into oblivion and meshing together like they'd known each other a lifetime. Haley unfortunately wasn't so lucky. Sure she had Jess – but their timetables were conflicting and she'd only seen her once in the past week. She felt so isolated and alone and although she was thankful for Jess's kind gesture of getting her an apartment, she was starting to wonder if she would have been better off living in the dormitory halls with all the other freshmen, where she would have been able to socialise with others easier. Her neighbours were mostly post-grad students and uninterested in making friends with a freshman.

Jess dabs at a mascara smudge with a wet piece of tissue, before turning to Haley.  
'I guess Sam could go with you, although I warn you he's not good at parties and Christ forbid, keep him away from the liquor as he's not the greatest drunk.'

Haley is hesitant, she's not really sure that it's appropriate considering she's been pondering some rather unsavoury feelings about Jess's boyfriend. Feelings that she would never dream of acting upon, but made her feel uncomfortable nonetheless.

'I don't know Jess; I don't want him to feel like he has too.'

'Don't be silly Haley, he talks about you all the time, he likes you as friend and not just because you are _my _friend, you talk to him about all the intellectual mush that bores the heck out of me.' Jess says as she puts her mascara in a pink make-up bag and zips it up.

Haley follows Jess as she leaves the bathroom. 'I guess so, but I can skip the party – '

Jess spins on her heels and faces Haley, prodding a perfectly manicured finger into her shoulder. 'You are going Miss James, no arguments! You need to make friends, instead of holding yourself up in your dorm room and reading so far ahead into your college reading material that you are practically three months ahead.'

Haley cuts in, flustered 'I am not three –'

'Whatever, but you _are _going.'

Haley groans aloud. 'Fine.'

'Good'

Jess runs her fingers roughly through her thick tumble of curls and inspects her appearance.

'Anyway, do I look okay, Hales? I'm leaving for the airport in an hour.'

Haley smiles, Jess always looks amazing, even without the makeup. She could easily be a model as she stands at a whole six foot tall, and she is all willowy and with legs that go on forever. Haley doesn't even reach five foot four, and she's convinced her legs are stumpy.

Sometimes, Haley concludes, life is not fair.

'You look gorgeous, as always.'

Haley wasn't usually the jealous and insecure type, she had no trouble getting a boyfriend in the past (although in truth, she'd only ever had _one _and she had married him.) and she never usually concerned herself too much with her appearance, but it was hard not to feel like a wilting flower next to Jess – she was so glossy, radiant and beautiful; inside and out.

No wonder Sam had fallen in love with her.

'Thanks Haley. Now keep an eye on Sam, don't let him cook anything – he's an _awful _cook and make sure he doesn't spend his whole time away from me with his nose in a book, in fact that goes for you too. Go out, have fun! Then update me when I get back.' Jess plants a soft kiss upon Haley's cheek and then departs Haley's room like a whirlwind.

* * *

A few hours later, shortly after one fifty pm a knock was sounded on Haley's door. She padded towards it, opening it up to reveal Sam standing in her doorway, a shy smile on his face and two coffees in his hands.

'Hey, I thought I'd walk you to your shift seeing as mine starts when yours does.' He places the coffee in her hand as he speaks, his long fingers grazing her smaller ones as he does so.

'Here, I thought you might want one, milky, two sugars.'

Haley smoothes over her clothes self consciously, _crap_, she'd totally forgotten about her shift and she was still wearing sweat pants, a look that she didn't really feel comfortable with Sam seeing her sporting.

'Oh gosh Sam, I forgot, can you wait here while I throw some decent clothes on?'

He nods, putting down his own coffee on the nearest countertop and placing his hands in his back pockets as she grabs some clothes and hurries into the bathroom.

A few minutes later she bursts quickly out of the bathroom, wearing a blue sweatshirt and black jeans. Her hair is scooped up messily in a big and tousled bun, and she looks pretty in an unaffected way.

'Let's go!' She says as she grabs her cup of coffee and takes a sip.

As they leave she notices Sam eyeing her curiously. 'What?' She asks.

Oh god, she's wearing her shirt inside out or something. It was bad enough when he noticed that the last time. '_I am such a dweeb' _She thinks to herself.

'You've got...' Sam thumbs his top lip.

'Huh?'

Sam shifts uncomfortably and then holds out his thumb and wipes Haley's top lip tenderly.

'Foam.' He shows her his thumb.

'Ah.' She swallows and ignores the slight fluttering in her chest at the fact that he has just touched her face.

She _really _needs to get her hormones into check.

On the walk to work they discuss Haley's upcoming English paper and he offers some useful advice on how to tackle it. She likes this part of their relationship; they talk so easily and naturally that time seems to slip away with them. They share so many common interests – Art, literature, technology (they even share a phobia – clowns) and they both have such similar music tastes that it's hard not to find something to talk about.

Although they're so alike in many ways, in others they are not. Haley is completely open and chatty, whereas Sam is unusually evasive – their chats only really touch the surface of who he is. He knows about her friends, her life in Tree Hill and her wacky but loveable parents and yet he offers nothing about his life before Stanford.

She wonders if maybe she's over thinking things, it's not like he's her boyfriend - but everyone has a family and a past.

After finishing up their discussion on her paper, he pipes up about Jess mentioning the freshman party and she lets out a small grumble.

'Look, you don't have to go with me, it's lame and stupid and I don't even know why I want to go.' She babbles before he interrupts.

'No, it'll be fun. I mean you don't have too but we could always cut loose if it gets boring.' He shrugs with a smile.

'Yeah, you're right. But you don't have to feel like my babysitter or anything; you can cut loose early on your own if you choose too, honestly.'

'Haley, it's fine – we're going. I'll drop by your apartment tomorrow around eight.' He reassures before they enter the cafe and place the mandatory work aprons on.

Haley takes the orders and Sam hands them to the customers, working together effectively and exchanging occasional words to one another, but focusing on the job at hand before the hours pass and they finish up their shift.

'I'll see you tomorrow, okay?' Sam tells Haley as they begin to part ways.

'Tommorow.' Haley repeats.

* * *

Haley sits at her desk, penning a letter to her old best friend Lucas and she finds herself leaving out the woes of Stanford life. Instead she tells him about her course and the beautiful campus and about how amazing San Francisco is – even though she had only been into the city once with Jess. She speaks fondly of Jess and briefly enthuses about Sam. Just as she's pinning a picture of the golden gate bridge to her letter, a knock is sounded on her dorm room door and she's puzzled as to who may be there.

She advances to the door curiously, opening the door and letting out a flabbergasted sigh at the unexpected woman in front of her.

'Oh Tutor-girl, I have missed you!' The brunette girl grabs Haley into a tight embrace and her heavily hair-sprayed bouffant tickles her nostrils.

Haley's heart practically leaps with joy. 'Brooke! What are you doing here; I thought you were at University of Southern Carolina!'

'Not anymore!'

'Oh God, they didn't kick you out did they?'

Brooke was a wonderful friend, but sometimes she wasn't the sharpest tool in the box and it was a complete surprise that Brooke got a near perfect SAT score. It probably helped that Lucas spent many hours tutoring Brooke so that she could attend the same university as him.  
That was before he left her, for her best friend, Peyton.

'I transferred in, I couldn't stand rooming with Peyton any longer and I could not, for one more _minute _watch her exchange saliva with _my _ex boyfriend.'

Peyton and Brooke had put in a request to dorm together way before Lucas left Brooke for Peyton and obviously it had been hard to change the living situations once they had been implemented.

'Wait, what do you mean, you transferred in?' There is no way that Brooke could have transferred into Stanford this early in the semester – she'd have had to wait till next year, _at least_. Besides which, Stanford was basically the Ivy League of the West Coast and places were limited at best.

'My dad is golfing buddies with some guy who's head of admissions and he said he would make an allowance if I did a few entrance exams and passed them. Which I totally did, I'm not just a pretty face, Haley! Although I'm stuck for accommodation, I think I'm going to have to rent somewhere locally, which is a huge bummer.'

Haley beamed, an idea popping into her head. 'You can stay here, it's two bed roomed. Jess pulled some strings and got me this apartment.'

Brooke's pretty dimpled face lit up and she let out a squeal. 'Are you serious? That'd be amazing.'

'Totally serious. Now unpack your stuff and I'll show you around campus.'

Brooke was quite obviously still heartbroken over Lucas, as much as she tries to deny it. This re-iterates even more-so in Haley's mind how off-limits Sam is. Stealing your friend's boyfriend is a total no-go, even if Peyton had not quite grasped that fact. Haley had wanted to ask about Lucas, he had, after all been one of her best friends. Unfortunately she didn't think it was fair to bring Lucas up, so she tried to keep the subject of him as off-limits as possible.

Brooke had said she'd seen Nathan a few times – Duke had their first game with USC and she said that she heard he was dating a girl named Sadie. Haley wasn't sure how she felt about this. He was still her husband, and she couldn't stomach the thought of him in bed with someone else but she knew it was inevitable and would happen eventually. After all it was her who had left him, not the other way around and he was completely free to see whoever he wanted.

Although it did break her heart to hear about it, more-so then she cared for.

Brooke had suggested that they get back into cheerleading but Haley had refused.

'Brooke I only became a cheerleader for _you.'_ And to become closer to Nathan, but she left that part out.

'Come on!' Brooke whined.

'Nuh uh, now shut up about it you, dork. We need to find you a job.'

Brooke pouts. 'Do I have too? The last time I worked it was in the crab shack and we both know how well that went...'

'Brooke in life, to get anywhere, we have to get jobs, earn money, provide for ourselves...' Haley teasingly mocks her friend.

'I know that but – '

'No buts, I'll see if Jess's boyfriend Sam knows of any jobs going, but I think most of them will be taken now as we're already a month into the semester. But you _have _to get a job to split the rent with me, it's darn pricey.'

Haley was incredibly thankful for Brooke moving in, all her earnings were going on the apartment and she'd been pretty much living off tuna and rice for the past month, because she was adamant that she was not going to get into any sort of debt.

* * *

It was the eve before the party and Brooke had invited herself along. Haley had told Sam that he didn't need to come after all, but he said he wanted to, and so that was that. Haley wasn't sure what he thought of Brooke, she found him laughing at her jokes and Brooke was flirting with him in her unaware-she's-crossing-boundaries kind of way, and it made Haley feel uncomfortable. Did Sam like Brooke more than he liked her? It was a silly thought, especially since Sam wasn't available. But Brooke was entertaining and bubbly and radiated this lovely, cheery nature. Haley had never felt jealous of Brooke before, but she found herself feeling dull in comparison.

'Guys, I've just gotta warn you that there is a storm warning out, although it's doubtful it'll hit here because we're not hugely prone to thunderstorms.' Sam informs Brooke and Haley as they were getting ready to leave, breaking Haley from her irrational thoughts.

Brooke told them that she wasn't bothered by a bit of rain and that they should get going. She wanted to check out the freshman hotties and see what fresh fish she could 'hook' in.

'Remember the scrunchie system, Haley.' Brooke winks.

'Ew, no, no, no. Please don't do that Brooke, I'd like to sleep tonight and you're not exactly quiet when you...you know' Haley lowers her voice before continuing. '_do it.'_

Sam coughs uncomfortably, to let the girls know that he was still in their presence.

'Oh don't be such a prude, let's go!'

* * *

Haley had never thought she'd need a knight in shining armour; she was pretty feisty when she wanted to be and she certainly did _not _need a man to fight her battles.

But when the drinks had flowed a bit _too _heavily, and she'd lost sight of Brooke _and _Sam, she'd somehow found herself in a corner of the room with a perfectly normal looking guy called James. He seemed nice enough, he was majoring in psychology and came from Ohio, but after a while he got a little _too_ nice and his hand was trailing up her inner thigh.

'Hey, stop it!' She snapped at him while wafting his hand away.

'Come on' His alcohol-stenched breath is hot upon her neck. 'You seem like a good time kind of girl.'

'Oh no buddy, I don't think so.' She tries to push past him but he grabs her arms and puts them against the wall, digging his groin into her lower stomach.

He tries to kiss her as she fails to wriggle free. She wants to let out a scream but the music was loud and she'd struggle to be heard, and just as the panic sets in as she wonders if something could happen to her right here without anybody noticing or caring, a familiar voice is heard and James's head is grabbed and butted into the wall beside her.

'Get off of her.' Sam growls in a _very _un-Sam manner, and as James turns to punch Sam, he dodges the punch almost professionally before pushing the guy on the floor.

'You _do not _attempt to force yourself on girls, _ever._ Sick bastard.'

Sam grasps Haley's arms and weaves her through the sea of people at the party and then takes her out into the courtyard. It's already started to rain, the wind is howling and the storm is only just starting to rear it's ugly head.

He suddenly clutches her into a big bear hug, and he asks if she's okay and she nods into his chest, droplets of rain dripping down off his nose and onto her hair.

His neck smells so lovely, all boyish and natural and she struggles to leave his embrace. She shouldn't be feeling like this and she shouldn't be standing outside in the rain, clinging onto him because some guy got too hot and heavy with her and he had _saved _her, God only knows what would've happened if he hadn't have appeared when he did.

'He shouldn't have done that, I _hate _guys like that.' He's shaking with anger and Haley's shocked to see this side of him, she'd always thought of Sam as extremely mild mannered.

Haley looks up at him and he's eyeing with such intensity that it makes her gasp. She can feel the connection to him flowing through her almost electrically and although she tries to shrug the feeling off, to avoid his gaze and to wriggle out of his arms. She just _can't _and her heart is swimming with so much emotion that she cannot even begin to comprehend.

She opens her mouth to say something, but she's unable to form the words and he moves his head closer to hers, _dangerously _closer. And just as she swears he's going to move in to kiss her and she's unable to process what to do next, a voice shouts out her name – a voice she never quite expected to hear before, especially not at Stanford.

'Haley?'

She swiftly moves away from Sam and her heart drops into the pit of her stomach as she locks eyes with her ex husband.

'Nathan.' She says meekly.

'Who's this punk?' Nathan snarls as he walks towards them.

'What are you even doing here?' She asks defensively.

Nathan eyeballs Sam with menace and Haley prods Nathan in the chest to get him to answer her. 'Hey!'

'I need you to sign the divorce papers.' He states coldly.

Haley sucks in a heavy breath and lightening erupts overhead. 'And you couldn't send them?'

The rain starts to get heavier, and pelts off the cemented pavement while a rumble of thunder sounds loudly.

'I thought it was too...impersonal...it's our marriage that we are talking about, but obviously...you've moved on.'

'Nathan listen to me!' She doesn't understand why she's reasoning with him, he was the one who was apparently dating some girl named Sadie.

'Look, I'll post them to you, I'd give you them now but it's pouring down with rain. I'm leaving tomorrow – I thought you'd like to talk but to be honest I don't really wanna talk to you.'

Sam interjects. 'Hey dude, there's nothing going on between us and you don't have the right to talk to her that way.'

Nathan squares up to Sam. 'Listen chump, I wasn't talking to you.'

'Nathan!'

'I'm leaving.' He turns on his heels and Haley stands their watching him leave, unsure of what or how to feel.

Once those papers were signed, her marriage would be well and truly over.

* * *

It wasn't until they got back to Sam's apartment (it was closer to the courtyard than hers and Brooke's and the weather was pretty treacherous) that she realised how drunk she was, and with the news of Nathan turning up, she found herself consuming a few glasses of the wine that had been in the refrigerator.

She offers to cook him macaroni and cheese, and he says that he'll help her cook it, even though it's late, but hopefully it'll help sober her up. It takes her a while to get the macaroni _just _right, especially considering her drunken state, and she was not impressed when he burnt it. Although she couldn't help but laugh at him, and as she continued to down the glasses of wine, she began to imagine that Sam was her boyfriend and that she wasn't about to be divorced and everything was lovely and happy, just _different._

And then it was the city wide blackout.

The last blackout had been an emotional night for her, and suddenly the memories came flooding back in sharp glass like pieces.

A rollercoaster of emotions overwhelm her, her heart locks in her chest and her mouth betrays her with movements that she has no control over, and when they mash into Sam's, salty tears dropping onto them and meshing into the kiss, she tries not to notice his big hands pushing her away slowly, a hushed 'no, no, you're just drunk and upset Haley.' filling the blacked out room with noise, before a flash of lightening illuminates the kitchen and the worried look on his face, then a loud thunder clap follows and almost causes Haley to start sobbing.

She apologizes and he shakes his head. She didn't want this to happen, she doesn't even know how or why she ended up kissing him. She was just hurting so badly, recovering from her failed marriage while this gorgeous and sweet man was being kind to her.

'I better go.' She trembles as she excuses herself and advances towards the door.

He marches towards her, shutting the door and locking it before she can try to leave. A lightning bolt of exhilaration flows through her as he spins back, and she ponders his next movement, her breath stuck in her throat like a stubborn piece of food.

'No, don't, not like this.'

'I never meant to...' Her voice trails off; she _did _mean too, it's been all she's been able to think about since she arrived at the damn school, a plague that's worsened since he saved her at that stupid freshmen party. She wants him more than she can even describe, more than she ever felt for Nathan and yet, she can _never_ have him.

'I know, it's been an eventful night, what with Nathan showing up and James getting all grabby at the party.' He sympathizes, and she's not sure if he's sincere or not. God, what if he tells Jess? She has shown nothing but kindness towards Haley and yet she repays her by throwing her lips on her boyfriend. _Nice move, Haley. _

'It's just, with the blackout and Nathan turning up – it's making me doubt everything. Nathan and I, shared a...well we had a night, when there was a storm and a blackout like tonight and I guess my emotions and the alcohol have gotten the better of me.'

He's quiet, for a moment, and his eyes stare at her intensely like burning coals. She avoids his gaze, looking to her hands, her feet and then to the floor.

'Hey, hey.' He places his forefinger underneath her chin and lifts it to him before gently clasping her cheekbones.

'It didn't mean anything.' He reassures her softly.

'It didn't mean anything.' She repeats, the pang in her chest telling her otherwise.

The room is silent and dark, and she swears that he could hear her heart racing, and just as she wonders if her mouth will betray her once more, she hears a small familiar voice call out her name from behind the door.

'Is anyone there? I'm scared.'

Haley lets Brooke in who informs her that she'd gotten a serious case of the heebie jeebies when she went back to their apartment to find it empty.

'I didn't want to be on my own, it was so dark and you left me!'

'I'm sorry – it was a long night. I'll tell you about it later.'

Brooke's eyes shoot suspiciously from Sam to Haley and she glances at the burnt macaroni and empty wine glasses.

She raises her eyebrows. 'Oh yeah, why didn't you just go back to our apartment?'

'Nathan was here and I didn't wanna be alone, plus Sam's apartment was closer to the party.' Haley tells her honestly. 'He flew out to hand me divorce papers, he's staying in a locally I think and if the storm lets up I guess he'll be leaving tomorrow.'

'Oh honey, I'm so sorry.'

Sam clears his throat and informs them the storm is getting worse and that they can stay the night if they wish, and he'll take the couch.

'I don't even like that you walked over here on your own Brooke, it's chaos outside.'

She shrugs casually, throwing him an unconcerned look.

'Oh, Sam!' Brooke expresses excitedly. 'Do you know any ghost stories; maybe you could tell us some.'

Haley raises her hand, interjecting 'Brooke, come on...'

'No, really. It's the perfect weather.'

'Look, we better go, we'll walk back to our apartment it isn't _that _bad outside.' Haley reasons, she just wants to get out of Sam and Jess's apartment.

'No, you can't do that.' Sam tells her seriously.

Haley knows that the storm is bad, but god damn it she can't stay here for much longer, she's made a huge fool out of herself and she needs some thinking space.

'Are you kidding me Haley, it's crazy out there, I am _not _getting soaked again.'

'Brooke.' Haley sends her a pleading look, but Brooke ignores her.

She briefly rests her head in her hands.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

**I was able to restore my story plan! I know it's been almost a month since I posted that chapter telling you guys about me trying to fix my laptop but it took over two weeks for the hard-drive enclosure to ship and I really wanted to get this right. I hope it doesn't seem too rushed with the events, this isn't going to be an affair behind Jess's back, especially seeing that I really like this version of Jess that I'm writing and it will slowly develop from here on out but I wanted you to understand Haley's feelings of confusion, heartbreak and her awakening feelings for Sam. I hope it didn't seem out of character. Please leave Feedback! Thanks!**


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